Ikegami Honmonji

Ikegami Honmonji, the head temple of the Nichiren Buddhist sect located in the Ota ward of southern Tokyo, appears in this oban woodblock print as a place of pilgrimage and architectural grandeur rising above the surrounding residential neighborhoods. The temple, founded in 1282 on the site where the monk Nichiren died, sits atop a hill approached by a steep stone staircase of 96 steps. Nouet likely captures the view looking up toward the five-story pagoda and the main hall, with the monumental stairway creating a strong vertical axis that pulls the eye upward. As a Frenchman living in Tokyo, Nouet was drawn to the city's temples as islands of historical permanence amid rapid modernization. The print records a Tokyo that was already disappearing, soon to be devastated by wartime bombing.